WNTV
'WNTV, virtual channel 11, is an NBC owned-and-operated television station licensed to Toad Harbor, Mushroom Kingdom. The station is owned by the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal (itself a division of Comcast), as part of a duopoly with Telemundo owned-and-operated station WFET (channel 48), also licensed to Toad Harbor. WNTV is available on cable systems in the Toad Harbor area on channel 3 (703 in HD). History Early years (1955–1970) WNTV signed on the air on September 12, 1955, originally operating as an independent station covering the entire Toad Harbor region and nearby markets. It was the first television station operated by Japanese Hanafuda card producer Nintendo, which was one of the largest employers in the Mushroom Kingdom. Channel 11 often aired shows from CBS, DuMont and NBC that were respectively turned down by WFVE (channel 5) and WTHC-TV (channel 4). The station was at first viable as an independent, but the going got difficult when WIIH (channel 2) signed on in 1958. Despite the fact that WNTV had billed itself as "Advanced Channel 11," technical snafus were the norm during the station's first few years: film broke down, ID, advertising and program promotion slides frequently appeared backwards, and there were often long pauses when nothing appeared on screen. WNTV served as the Toad Harbor affiliate of the United Network for its one month of existence in 1967, airing The Las Vegas Show. Arrival of Ted Turner (1970–1999) By 1970, the station was almost on the brink of financial collapse, and so Nintendo sold it to Ted Turner. Upon becoming owned by Turner, WNTV initially retained its original programming format. Turner had a low budget in terms of programming purchases, and would bid very low on new shows offered in syndication; it's commercial competitors—WIIH, WTHC-TV, WFVE-TV, WGT-TV, WWTH-TV (now WCFE-TV), WICU-TV and WKBT—would get the best product. Turner would then buy the rights to the shows that the competitors did not renew for nearly half the price of the original purchase. Turner also bought most of the movie packages in this manner. The station's schedule placed an emphasis on its movie library; one notable program was Academy Award Theatre, which showcased films that had won or have been nominated for Academy Awards. Classic films from the 1910s through the 1940s were shown every day as part of the regular schedule. Many older films that had never been telecast in the Toad Harbor area (such as 1935's A Midsummer Night's Dream) made their local television debut on WNTV. Programs carried by WNTV during the period included the sitcom series Our Miss Brooks and The Phil Silvers Show and the cartoon series Mixels (1961) and Pinky and the Brain ''(1961), both of which also aired in first-run syndication on WNTV in the 1960's, and was even the Toad Harbor home for the ''Bunnicula cartoon series based on the childrens' novels by James Howe, which were nominally broadcast by eventual sister operation New Line Network, which did not have any operations in the Mushroom Kingdom. Superstation status (1980–2001) On November 25, 1980, at 1:00 p.m., based upon Turner's success of making WTBS, based in Turner's hometown of Atlanta, and WFSV-TV (now WPSI-TV) in Possum Springs, Pennsylvania widely-carried superstations, WNTV became the second Toad Harbor independent to be beamed for carriage on cable systems across the Mushroom Kingdom, after competitor WIIH began cable carriage across the state a few years earlier. Programming stayed pretty similar as shows would be purchased second and usually even third hand. During the 1980s, the station was primarily known as "SuperStation WNTV"; the "W" in the call letters was eventually dropped from the branding in 1987. In Toad Harbor, through the early 1990s, station promos and digital on-screen graphics referred to the station as "NTV 11". In 1981, Turner decided to have all of the shows carried by WNTV continue to air both locally and statewide, but separated the feeds (in a move that occurred simultaneously with that of WTBS, with the national feed ultimately becoming the modern-day TBS cable channel). As a result, some local commercials airing in Toad Harbor on channel 11 would not air over the outstate feed and were substituted with separate national and regional advertising, direct response ads or public service announcements. Eventually, the "SuperStation" branding was dropped in 1990; for a short time in the late 1990s, the "Superstation" brand returned to WNTV (in concurrence with the restoration of the sub-brand on the outstate feed) without the "NTV" branding. In 1986, after Ted Turner's $1.5 billion purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists that year ended in the studio's being sold back to Kirk Kerkorian due to concerns over Turner Entertainment's debt load, WNTV acquired the rights to air the studio's movies through Turner's purchase of the MGM/UA film library. WNTV also aired NBC programming rejected by WTHC-TV including the NBC soap opera Another World, ''the NBC game shows ''50 Grand Slam and Just Men!, and the entire TNBC lineup, as well as select series carried by New Line (despite this, channel 11 never landed a full-time New Line affiliation), specifically the Canadian import New Line sitcom The Red Green Show until 1995; the New Line sitcom The Gerard Griffith Show after 1995; the New Line cartoon series Salmonsplat (which at one point was among the highest-rated programs in Toad Harbor ratings), Andre Alligator's Friends, The Mixels Show and the three Bunnicula ''series that were in first run in the 1990s. However, by the 1990's, ratings began plummeting immensely due to intensifying competition providing better-quality programming. In September 1998, due to the trend of children's programs migrating more toward cable channels such as Turner's Cartoon Network, WNTV dropped cartoons from its schedule entirely. Transition (1999–2001) Turner Entertainment, by then a subsidiary of Time Warner, then sold WNTV to a minority-owned firm, Granite Broadcasting, in January 1999. The outstate feed was discontinued around this time and replaced with the Toad Harbor feed, albeit with many blackouts due to syndication exclusivity rules. That same year, the owners of WTHC-TV and the ''Toad Harbor Chronicle put all of its media properties up for sale. NBC, which had been in the midst of renewing its affiliation agreement with WTHC-TV, jumped into the bidding as it had sought to purchase channel 4—then one of the network's highest-rated affiliates—as early as the late 1940s, when it wanted a sister television station to compliment radio station (680), but had never been able to do so after the Chronicle won the channel 4 license, though the Chronicle had built it into one of the network's strongest affiliate stations. NBC was thought to be the favorite to buy WTHC-TV, but lost a bidding war for the station to Young Broadcasting in November 1999. NBC responded by threatening to yank its programming from WTHC unless Young agreed to run it under the conventions of an NBC-owned outlet, including disallowing the station from preempting NBC programs outside of breaking news coverage. The network also made the unprecedented demand that Young pay NBC $10 million annually to carry the network's programming—a form of reverse compensation. Young refused, and announced that it would end WTHC-TV's 52-year relationship with NBC once its affiliation contract ended in December 2001. In February 2000, Granite contacted NBC to negotiate an affiliation deal and offered to pay an average of $37 million annually (totaling roughly $362 million over 10 years) for the rights to broadcast NBC programs on WNTV. This agreement was groundbreaking and notable, as WNTV became one of the first major market affiliates to pay a network for programming, reversing a long-standing model where networks paid affiliates to carry their programming. NBC accepted the deal, which was due to take effect in January 2002. On July 3, 2000, WNTV became a network affiliate for the first time in it's existence when it temporarily carried programming from The WB in a part-time simulcast with then co-owned WTWB-TV (channel 20, now WCFE-TV), which was the full-time WB affiliate for Toad Harbor. For Granite Broadcasting, the deal with NBC was expensive; the company showed a net loss of $44 million for the first three quarters of 2001, more than double its losses during the same period the previous year. In an attempt to reduce debts, Granite started looking for a buyer for Detroit WB affiliate WXON in October 2001; that station would not be sold until 2014. As an NBC O&O (2001–present) On December 17, 2001, NBC announced another twist on the deal: it bought WNTV from cash-strapped Granite for $230 million, effectively separating itself from WTWB (which was sold in 2014). The network was already in the process of acquiring Telemundo station WFET, and wanted to create a duopoly in Toad Harbor. WNTV officially joined NBC at 11:35 p.m. on December 31, 2001. With NBC's move to channel 11, it became the only major network in Toad Harbor to switch from one station to another. WNTV is the third Toad Harbor station to affiliate with NBC, as WFVE-TV had carried the network as a secondary affiliation upon its sign-on in 1948 until WTHC debuted the following year, upon which WFVE affiliated with CBS. NBC formally took control of WNTV in April 2002. The affiliation switch also resulted in many cable providers outside the Toad Harbor market dropping WNTV entirely under syndication exclusivity guidelines. After the affiliation switch to NBC, WNTV changed its branding to "NBC 3" to reflect its position on cable channel 3 on nearly every cable provider in Toad Harbor. However, due to potential confusion with other nearby NBC affiliates broadcasting on channel 3, including Isle Delfino's NBC affiliate, WNPA, NBC rebranded the station as "NBC11" in September 2002. Initially, WNTV newscasts were perceived to be infotainment due to the focus on crime and entertainment news, but by late 2002 the newscasts began focusing on Toad Harbor affairs. During the 2004 Summer Olympics, the station heavily promoted channel 11 through its "i11uminating" marketing campaign (with the number "11" used in place of the "L" letters). Even in its early years as the new NBC affiliate, WNTV aired NBC's soap opera lineup much later in the afternoon than most affiliates; WTHC had done this for years as an NBC affiliate. Soon enough by August 2004, WNTV fell in line with the network's recommended time slot and now airs Days of Our Lives (NBC's remaining afternoon daytime drama) at the recommended 1 p.m. timeslot. Transmitter upgrades On September 12, 2005, WNTV doubled the height of it's transmitter, giving it a signal comparable to Toad Harbor's other major stations. The move came after years of objection from WTHC's owner Young Broadcasting. Some Toad Harbor residents still found it difficult to receive an adequate over-the-air signal. In 2009, WNTV changed its on-air branding from "NBC11" to "NBC Toad Harbor"; additionally the station's website was relaunched on October 16 of that year, as part of a larger revamp of the Web sites of NBC's entire O&O station group. In April 2010, WNTV entered into an arrangement with former NBC affiliate WTHC-TV to broadcast network programs during instances in which WNTV has to preempt them for special programming. Incidentally, WTHC's owner, Young Broadcasting discussed entering WTHC into a shared services agreement with WNTV's owner NBCUniversal, which ultimately never materialized. WTHC's default carriage of preempted NBC shows ended in 2012, when WICU-TV (then owned by Cox Enterprises as a sister station to WIIH) resumed those duties until the sale of both WICU and WIIH to Fox Television Stations in 2014; pre-emptions are now handled in-house with a move of NBC programming to WNTV's COZI TV subchannel. Gallery File:NTVSuperstation11.png|WNTV's logo from 1983 to 1998, the "SUPERSTATION" portion was removed between 1991 and 1996 and also appeared on Turner's 1991 Cartoon Network Presentation Reel. An early version, used until 1986, read "WNTV SUPERSTATION". NTVSportsView.jpg|WNTV Sports View copyright screen from 1990, sponsored by Koopa Air Digital television Cozi TV On December 20, 2012, WNTV began broadcasting Cozi TV, a digital subchannel network that airs a mix of movies, first-run lifestyle programming, and classic television series from the 1950s through the 1980s. The service is a retooling of the original NBC Nonstop (which operated a regional service called NBC Mushroom Kingdom Nonstop that debuted in January 2011 on WNTV, and sister stations WQTC/Windmillville, WNDC/New Donk, WTMK/Toad Town, WRCY/Yoshi's Island and WKLW/Mushroom City), which carried news and lifestyle-oriented programs, some of which have been carried over to Cozi. Analog-to-digital conversion WNTV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 11, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 12, using PSIP to display WNTV's virtual channel as 11 on digital television receivers. Current Programming Schedule Programming Syndicated programming on WNTV includes Access ''(including its live counterpart), ''Steve, Rachael Ray, Extra, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show among others. The first two are distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution and Rachael Ray is distributed by CBS Television Distribution. Since being purchased by NBCUniversal, WNTV has produced its own programs for both local broadcast and for distribution in syndication. One such show is Today's Tech (a weekly show that debuted on September 19, 1998 under Turner Broadcasting ownership that covers the latest in technology and gadgets, and was at one time popular in Japan). The station is also the local broadcaster of the Toad Harbor Holiday Parade each November, ironically preempting NBC's own coverage of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. News operation WNTV presently broadcasts 34 hours, 55 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5 hours, 35 minutes on weekdays and 3½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station also produces a local sports highlight and discussion program on Sunday nights called Sports View, a program that has ran for decades at various times dating back to Turner ownership, it is currently sponsored by Comcast Xfinity, an additional Sunday edition airs during the fall, when NBC provides football coverage in primetime. WNTV originally made its name by producing humorous, satirical newscasts. One such program was 11 Update Early in the Morning, which reported the news in a mostly deadpan fashion, occasionally interacting with the studio crew, and with comedic sideline gags at times by another co-anchor (known as "The Unknown Newsman") wearing a brown paper grocery bag over his head. The newscast, which often contained elements resembling that of a comedic morning drive radio show, aired between late night/early morning movie presentations from 1975 to 1979. Turner discontinued that program after a Congressional investigation took place concerning his fulfillment of Federal Communications Commission public service requirements, some months before Turner would prepare to launch CNN, an all-news channel that would strive to be anything but comedic. Turner reassigned the program's staff to regular interview programs on WNTV, as well as a sketch comedy show between 1980 and 1982 (more conventional, non-comedic news updates aired throughout the day as well and eventually expanded into conventional timeslots). WNTV's news staff also provided news updates on then-sister cable operation and CNN spin-off channel CNN Headline News on Toad Harbor cable systems until 1999. In February 1999, WNTV began producing an hour-long 10 p.m. newscast for then-WB affiliate WTWB-TV (now WCFE-TV). Upon becoming a WB affiliate in July 2000, WNTV increased its local news programming; it retained all of its existing newscasts and added two hours to its weekday morning newscast, an hour-long news and technology-focused program at noon, an additional half-hour to its 6 p.m. newscast and a simulcast of the WTWB 10 p.m. newscast. The 7–9 a.m., 6:30 and 10 p.m. newscasts were dropped once WNTV switched to NBC in January 2002. For the first half of 2009, the recession forced NBC to cut costs at WNTV. Several rounds of layoffs occurred, forcing WNTV to shed some well-known personalities, additionally, weekend weather segments were outsourced to Toad Town sister station WTMK. WNTV's news helicopter (which was purchased in 2006) was also suspended from use on April 30, 2009. On December 21, 2010, WNTV's newscasts moved to a temporary set while the main news set underwent renovations, traffic and sports reports were also done in the newsroom. On July 16, 2016, WNTV became the last NBC owned station in the Mushroom Kingdom to begin using "Look N" graphics. Prior to this, WNTV along with sister stations WRMA, WNDC, WQTC, WRCY and WKLW revamped their websites on July 1, 2016. As of January 2017, WNTV is the only NBC-owned station and one of the two stations in Toad Harbor which do not have 4:00 p.m. newscasts since the NBC affiliation taken over from WTHC-TV in 2002. Several owned stations already have hour-long 4:00 p.m. newscasts. Category:Channel 11 Category:NBC Affiliates Category:NBC affiliated stations Category:NBC O&O Stations Category:NBC O&O Station Category:Toad Harbor Category:Mushroom Kingdom Category:Television stations established in 1955 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1955 Category:Television stations and channels established in 1955 Category:Former independent stations Category:Former WB affiliates Category:NBCUniversal Category:NBC-owned Stations Category:Stations that use "Look N" graphics